Meet Bamgbopa Abayomi Alabi: Nigeria’s first amputee footballer in Europe

While Nigeria is looking forward to setting up an amputee football league, some amputee footballers from the country aren’t waiting for that to happen before showing the world the stuff they’re made of. One of them is Bamgbopa Abayomi who’s based in Poland and is believed to be the first Nigerian to play professional amputee football in Europe.

Growing up, Abayomi was so into football that he’d spend hours playing with his friends. An accident in secondary school left his leg impaired but that didn’t cut short his dream of becoming a professional footballer. Once he was able to move around on crutches, he went back to football – and soon he was invited to France for trials.

Abayomi now plays in the Polish Amputee Football League. The only foreigner in the league, the Scandinavian national amputee football team once approached him to play for them as well.

As a part of the national amputee football team, the Special Eagles, Abayomi represented Nigeria at Nations Cup tournaments in Liberia and then Ghana – where the team qualified for the 2014 Amputee Football World Cup but couldn’t go because of funds.

Although some Nigerian sports administrators couldn’t care less about amputee football, Abayomi is determined to give the sport he loves the attention it deserves. That’s why he wants to represent Nigeria at this year’s Amputee Football World Cup in Mexico. And we’re totally rooting for him.